Dare To Hope
by Luminescify
Summary: Inuyasha's thoughts on Kagome and his life now. Takes place a few days before the well re-opens. Based on the manga. New chapter added.
1. Dare To Hope

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inuyasha. **

**Author's Note:**

**Right folks, this is my first fan fiction. It is based purely on the manga, except a few instances where I make up scenes of my own. My one-shot takes place a little while (probably two or three days) before the Well opens again and Kagome returns to the Sengoku Jidai. **

**It has lots of fluff. No limes or lemons, but rated for language, just in case. **

**Make a beginner's day by sparing half a minute to type out a review… **

**A big, big hug to both my betas, Amputation and Midnight Genius. Thanks for all the help. :) **

**Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy it.**

**-Faith (Forever And Ever Inuyasha)**

**P.S Please read the note at the bottom of the fic as well. Thank you :) **

**Dare To Hope**

The nights seem to stretch on forever… Blissful oblivion evades me, because she haunts me even in my dreams. Eyes open or closed, she is always there.

A semblance of her scent still seems to linger around here. It laces Shippou's clothes, scoots around the Well, and like nymph run astray, swirls around Sango and even the damn Houshi.

Yet, all I can get is a whiff; a fading ghost of a wondrous scent like no other, a scent that can blow you away…

_Fragrant, like Sakura blossoms; _clean, due to the innumerable baths she took; _optimistic, because you could feel it around her; _fresh, because she was_… Different, unique…I don't know. Call it whatever you want._____

Her scent is like a happy breeze, it uplifting, telling you that things are going to get better, blanketing you in comfort because after all, it belongs to her…Kagome.

_Kagome… _

At first, it took every ounce of self control and determination that I possessed to not launch myself against all of Nippon. Not to run rampage and go ripping, maiming, killing, and destroying until there was nothing but devastating carnage in my wake, until I found out why my Kagome was taken away.

The effort to restrain myself sapped my strength.

Now, three years later, my grim resolve to keep my grip on the handle of calm is eating away at my very core. It's eating away at what makes me "Inuyasha," as Kagome would have said.

I know Sango and Miroku worry about me. Even the runt's behavior tells me that he's concerned in his own twisted way.

But I can't bring myself to talk to any of them. The only person I can stand discussing the topic with is Kaede Babaa. I have a feeling she has the capacity to understand a little better than the others because of the whole Kikyou situation. It's also because, when I talk to Babaa, she just listens, doesn't give me any sympathy and I like it that way. I don't want…I don't need people's pity.

Through my talks with Kaede Babaa, and through one _shocking _discussion with that bastard Sesshoumaru where he came to tell me that he was sorry that I lost "the miko" but stop brooding because "this Sesshoumaru" thought that I had gained a lot from being with her for two years. I had become less "uncouth" and a more worthy "Son of the Western Lands" according to him… which was why he decided to leave Rin here for some time… Keh, I don't give a damn what he thinks, but it got me thinking. I find that focusing on the happy memories and being grateful for the gentleness and love she brought in my life greatly helps with getting through each day.

I think my only regret is not telling her how much I love her… how she changed my life; she turned my world on its axis and onto a better plane, a brighter plane.

But, I could never get the words out. My automatic defense mechanism- the same one that turns me into an uppity and an impossible son of a bitch- has always turned situations topsy-turvy for me.

She has a way with words, that Kagome; she has a way with _people. _

I know I've hurt her. I growled, I snapped, I swore, I called her names and wrung her heart out numerous times as I rushed to Kikyou.

Kikyou… Gods, it was another thing Kagome just_ _understood. __Sure she got pissed when I'd go, justifiably…but, the thing is, she knew why I had to go.

_See _why I love this girl?

When the battle with Naraku had _just _finished, I'd finally let my mind soar. Thoughts of spending a lazy eternity with Kagome raced through my head so fast, it was a wonder it didn't explode. I could certainly imagine my days stretching out… a lavish banquet, with Kagome right by my side. Sure, she would sit me right, left, and centre, but it would be worth it. _Fuck_, would it be worth it. I wondered if I could secretly practice my "smuggest" expression before marching over to Kouga and declaring that Kagome was mine. Ha! And all this, of course, would only happen if Kagome agreed to be with me.

No, she would…. She promised. Didn't she?

But because my thoughts were about Kagome, through my doubt, Hope, pure as the golden rays of the morning sun darted through me… cleansed me.

I just about died inside when I saw Kagome being sucked inside what could only be a meidou… I did the only logical thing to do at that time… I followed her.

Fuck, I wasn't about to let _my bitch _to be swallowed up in some hell-hole.

Those three days in there was like a bad nightmare gone wrong. _Way wrong. Finding her was like iron bands constricting my wind pipe being snapped free…_

Her relief at seeing her family once again left a bittersweet taste in my mouth…and when I started to fade back to my time, I realized that I _could _live without Kagome. Sure, life is living hell, but the fact that Kagome is safe, that she is with people who love her is a soothing balm and calms my inner youkai. The bastard… he has a much harder time accepting Kagome's absence than my human side.

I'm also soothed by Sango and Miroku's efforts to try and keep things normal around me. They don't usually go into 'Let's-Be-Sensitive-To-Inuyasha-He's-Suffering' overdrive and I'm grateful. Just yesterday they had their third pup…I mean, kid. The twins are extremely lively. They remind me a little of Kagome…especially with their obsession with my ears. I know Shippou thinks I'm going soft now, but since when have I listened to that baka?

I'm forever restless, but the monotony is sometimes broken when I accompany my best friend, that thieving fucker, on extortions… well, exorcisms, but here, it's the same thing. Keh, he'll never change.

During the early tortuous months, I would only stray a few feet away form the Well, waiting for Kagome. Then, I began to _accept. _This is my way of giving back what I received so unconsciously and in so much abundance from Kagome._ _Acceptance…__

I also remembered some asinine story Kagome told Shippou once…It was from another land far away from Nippon, all about this woman with a freaky name that I can't remember. I do remember calling Kagome a bitch and that she was going to baby up the runt too much… and then of course, it was "Hello ground? It's me, Face… I'm back. Again."

Basically, the story was about we all had only hope to rely upon because that freak let everything else out of some box. It now makes so much sense to me, because hope is what I live off. Memories and hope. Every three days, I'm back at the Well…

Now here's the thing, I'm not usually this way. Well, my personality's gone through three major and drastic changes throughout my life and they're enough to drive anyone fucking insane.

I don't really know how I would have turned out if my mother had survived, but I'm not getting into that. Those memories are pushed into recesses of my mind so far behind that I haven't spoken of them to_ _anybody. __Not Kaede Babaa, not Kagome, not anybody.

So…before Kagome, I was…intolerable. Just…wrong.

During my time with Kagome and the rest of the idiots I'd lay my life down to save, I was an insufferable bastard. But, I think they got my under lying meaning….

Now, after Kagome, I'm more of an introvert than ever.

Oh well.

I'm taking life a day at a time. It's very frustrating, believe me.

I can see the beginning of age showing on Miroku and Sango. Their movements are a fraction slower than what they used to be and now the added fear that grips me is what I'm going to do when they die… And maybe, this situation _will _be easier as time goes by; because there is absolutely no way I'd _ever_ be able to handle Kagome dying. I was only able to get over Kikyou because of Kagome.

Huh… looks like my star gazing time is up. I can hear Sango and Miroku discussing me. Again.

Sango is wondering whether I'm lonely…

Keh! Me! Lonely?

Alright, alright, I _am _lonely, but damn if I'm going to go admit it and sob on somebody's shoulder.

As I walk back from the grassy knoll, I close my eyes, gripping the handle of Tetsusaiga while my fingers brush against the beads of the rosary that I once hated with a furious passion. I think of my Kagome.

I think of Kagome, I think of home.

I open my eyes, and see that I'm facing the huts of Kaede Babaa, Sango and Miroku, I'm facing the Goshinboku, I'm facing the Bone-Eater's Well, and I know if I call out, Sesshoumaru will come and I will be facing him, too.

I face my _home. _

This is because of Kagome.

Through Kagome's acceptance, I am a hanyou; not a half-breed.

Through Kagome's faith in me, I healed and now help.

Through Kagome's compassion, I know mercy.

Through Kagome's optimism, I know to keep my chin up, because once you hit bedrock, the only place you can move is _up. _

Through Kagome's love, I've become someone who can get through each day; someone with friends and someone who has reasons worth living for.

Through Kagome, _I've dared to hope._

**Author's Note:**

**Well, that's it! My first fanfic…yay! I worked really, really hard on it…**

**I hope you liked it… and BTW, Kagome's "asinine story" is the story of Pandora's Box. **

**As mentioned before the story, I'd really like it if you reviewed, folks! **

**Always,**

**Faith**


	2. Back For Real, Back For Good

**Well, my story started out as a one-shot, but, I received requests and so, here's a little sequel to "Dare To Hope"**

**This takes you through the day Kagome returned to the Sengoku Jidai. Again, lots of ****fluff****. **

**Thank you for reading. Make my day by leaving a review! =)**

**And, of course, I don't own Inuyasha. **

**Back For Real **

Yes, I've dared to hope.

But, three years is a long time and with each passing day, my belief that I'll see Kagome again is slipping…

Will my breath ever catch sharply as I see her hair, dark as coal, whipping across her beautiful face in the wind again? Will I ever be dazzled by the cheerful sparkle in her eyes again? Will I ever be seized by the determination to go to the ends of the Earth and do _anything _and _everything, _just to stop Kagome's tears again? Will my head ever go blank in fear as I face her anger again? Will I ever feel that split-second of 'Oh, _Fuck,' _before I'm yanked down for a mouthful of dirt again?

The answer used to a resolute yes. Now, I fucking don't know… However, the thing is, all this shit concerns Kagome. You spend a two _weeks _with the wench and some of that optimism is going to rub off on you, sure as hell. Imagine what she's done to me, I've stuck around….no, wait, _she's _stuck around a bastard like me for about two years!

So, however long it takes, however tough it gets, I'm still going to wait, I'm still going to hope.

I sigh heavily and Kaede-Babaa looks at me, waiting for me to continue. I was talking to her about Kagome. About what happened when we finally got out of the Meidou, and onto the other side of the Well. Right in between, I drifted off… that happens often when I talk about Kagome. I allow myself another gusty sigh and I continue. Babaa is quite used to this and to her it's as if the thread of conversation was never lost.

"Anyway, at that point of time, I was just relieved to be able to send Kagome home."

"So, you're saying you came back yourself." Babaa's voice is quiet; it betrays nothing.

"Keh, I guess. Anyway, her mom, grandpa, and brother were all crying and stuff." My mind skips back to the scene in Kagome's shrine when she fell into her mother's arms. She's safe, I tell myself. She's with her family. She's with her friends... She's with _Hojo… _Suddenly that thought jumps into my head, not for the first time. _Shut the hell up, baka! _Irepress myself forcibly. She's safe. _Kagome is safe. _It gets easier as I repeat it to myself, a mantra.

"Inuyasha."

"Right. I'm not the only person whom Kagome is important to, after all… And, all those times I sent her home? Do you remember? I did it just so that she would be safe, and with people who love her. Of course, if she were here now, she would be in pretty much a similar situation. Naraku's gone and I'd keep her safe from all the small-fry youkai. And, _I _lo-I mean, _we _love her. _Anyway, _I bet she's happy. I'm gonna go see what Miroku's up to."

Babaa gives me a smile that has a little too much understanding behind it for my liking, but, I ignore it. I sniff around the air, trying to find Miroku…

My friend, once the glib womanizer, is now meekly helping his wife hang up the washed clothes to dry. You'd think life at such a bucolic pace would bore the wits out of the best Taijiya around and a monk who never stuck around one place for long. You think it would bore the wits out of _me, _but we have all settled in. While the newest little guy around is on Sango's back, the twins are playing with me. Although I pretend to be all gruff with them, I adore them. Their liveliness and wide smiles remind me so much of Kagome, it's uncanny. I have a sneaky suspicion everyone else knows how much I enjoy being with them, but it's okay… I have to keep my reputation up at least on the outside, right?

I never tire of them trying to clamber up my shoulders and giggling helplessly when they topple into my arms, except when-

"Doggy!"

"_Hey, _do something about the twins!" I growl in the general direction of Parents Proud.

"Not the ears, kids." comes Miroku's voice. I can hear the suppressed laughter, though. I'm going to get him, I really am.

While Sango apologizes, Shippou says flatly, "You're a _toy_."

I'm about to clunk him one when suddenly, my senses are under assault.

It's just gotten really hard to breathe; the air is rapidly solidifying around me, even as I'm desperately trying to draw air into my lungs, trying to draw in that achingly familiar scent.

Oh, fuck, I have to go check. Now.

Gently but quickly, I deposit the twins on Shippou with a sincere, "Go slay the kitsune."

Shippou's tiny body is quickly pinned to the ground by the twins and while he fruitlessly yells at me, I'm already sprinting, fast as I can, to the Bone Eater's Well.

I can breathe again, and I take in as much as I can, each breath pushing me faster.

That happy breeze is back. That fresh, optimistic, clean scent, fragrant as Sakura blossoms hits me smack dab in the face. It's all around me, it feels real. Not like everyday when a ghost of a whiff hovers tantalizingly, just out my reach.

I come to an abrupt halt in front of the ancient Well. I can hear the blood pounding in my head; it's deafening.

I'm sweating, trying to tell myself not to hyperventilate.

I stick my hand in the Well, and amazingly, I can feel the warm weight of a small hand in mine. I can feel the hand grasping mine, and quickly, I tug.

In a heartbeat, Kagome stands before me; almost nose-to-nose.

In that heartbeat, my world is spun off its axis. I'm caught in a whirlwind of myriad emotions and thoughts. I'm confused. Is this real? I'm exhilarated. I can see Kagome. She's a vision, still holding on to my hand for dear life.

My breath is catching; her hair is flying in the wind.

I'm dazzled. The sparkle in her eyes is blinding me.

I'm drugged. This scent, this very _real _scent, is intoxicating. I'm hooked.

She's beautiful; she's… still wearing a _short _skirt. Fuck, this situation is beyond repair.

But, most of all, I'm scared. Am I going to wake up panting and crushingly disappointed any moment now? Is she going to disappear now? _Is this real?_

"Inuyasha." Her voice cuts through all the shit going on in my head and suddenly, that's the only real thing in the world. "Inuyasha," There it is again. "I'm sorry. Were you waiting?"

Her eyes are now shining not only because their sparkle, but because of a sheen of tears.

I am abruptly seized by the determination to go to the ends of the Earth and do _anything _and _everything, _to wipe away the tears from her eyes; to drive away the salty tang that's just hit her scent.

I hoarsely say, "Kagome…"

I am not known around as Eloquent Inuyasha for a reason. But, at moment, it was enough. "Kagome."

It will _always _be enough.

Without wasting another second, I draw her into my arms and I bury my head in her hair. I have never felt more complete in my life. She feels real, she feels comfortable in my arms.

I wonder what kind of jackass I must have been to ignore my feelings for this angelic girl I've anchored close to my heart.

"Kagome-chan!" "Kagome!"

By now, Miroku and Sango, toting the kids and Shippou along, have reached. I should have known my actions at that time would have looked rather strange to the others. I can hear the disbelief and happiness in Sango and Shippou's voices and when I look, Miroku, for once, is rather speechless.

Kagome draws back from me and joyfully calls out to them. Sango and Shippou race to Kagome and envelop her in tearful hugs; Miroku, valiantly juggling three kids, is grinning ear to ear and hurries over too. You can hear the wonder in their voices as they excitedly welcome Kagome. As they welcome Kagome home.

We're all sitting by the firelight, just outside the village. Kagome is leaning against me and every time she looks into my eyes or snuggles in closer, a surge of euphoria shoots through me. Kaede-Babaa's face bears a smile so elated, I don't think any of us have ever seen such an expression on her face. Rin's face is all lit up, she's happy to see Kagome back. She holds Sango's sleeping baby in her arms as she looks at everybody like a child who has everything she wants. Sango and Miroku look excited, overwhelmed. Shippou is chattering nineteen to the dozen, without a break, about all kinds of inane nonsense. Me? I am content. I have all I ever wanted right next to me. My Kagome.

In between all the excitement and reunions, I haven't been alone with Kagome since I pulled her out of the Well. We've stuck to each other like glue this whole time and even now, we stay close. Savoring every moment together. This time, I'm not going to take Kagome for granted. I'm going to tell her. I'm going to tell her how much I love her.

Now, life is a lavish banquet spread out in front of Kagome and me again. We have an eternity to work our way through it, together.

I want to tell her now. I want to whisk her away and kiss her senseless. I want to tell her how much she means to me.

But, apparently, it's not my turn to talk. Shippou incessant monologue shows no signs of waning any time soon. None of us can get a damn word in edge-wise. The twins are happily playing in Kagome's lap and Shippou plows on,

"And Kagome, I've been doing so well in all my exams. Each time, I advance. And, when I'm back, I play with Rin. She doesn't have a lot of time, though. Kaede-Baa-Chan gives her work which she has to do. Sometimes I get work too, and I do it perfectly! And when Kohaku visits, he plays with me too. The only person who doesn't play with me is Inuyasha! He's still an arrogant guy who is very, very stupid! He behaved like a total baka when you weren't here. You know what? I think he's going soft! I mean, he's arrogant _soft! _He'd go to the Well every three days-"

Okay, this has gone on long enough.

"Hey, you. Shut the hell up." I say in a menacing tone as I narrow my eyes.

Kagome looks very amused as she turns to me and says, "Inuyasha, you're going soft? What exactly does Shippou-chan mean by that?"

By now, Sango and Miroku are laughing and the twins are watching the show with open mouths and laughing eyes.

"Inuyasha and Kagome-chan, we're going to our hut, okay? I think Kaede-Baa-Chan and Rin are getting tired as well. We'll take them to their hut. Looks like the twins are having fun. They won't sleep now even if I tell them to. Just bring them in when they get tired, would you? Thanks. Oh, and Kagome-chan? It's wonderful having you back." Sango's voice is warm and sincere.

Shippou really doesn't know when to stop. "Hey! You can't bully me! Kagome, I'll tell you exactly what I mean by this-" His yelling is cut off as I pick him up by his tail and growl at him.

"_Inuyasha!" _shouts Shippou and before I know it, there is a giant acorn on my head, weighing me down painfully.

"Ow, fuck! Shippou, I'll fucking get you for this!"

"Fu-ck?" The twins are testing out a new word. This does not go down well with Kagome.

"Shippou-chan, please remove that acorn at once. And, _Inuyasha. _You _cannot_ use such language in front of the children! What is wrong with you? Shouldn't you take a second to think before you start yelling like that? You're being a bad influence!"

"K-Keh!" I'm trying to act tough, but, my mind is slowly going blank as I look into her face, tinged red with anger.

Shippou removes the acorn, but is elated that I am being yelled at. "Ha! Baka! You're such an idiot! Don't you know enough to shut your mouth? Kagome's right. You're a bad influe-"

I've had it. One powerful knock and the over-smart little brat is out cold.

I turn towards Kagome.

"Inuyasha. Sit!"

_Oh, fuck. _

Yep, there's that split second and now my face is buried in the cool earth.

So, let's see.

My breath caught as I saw her hair, whipping in the wind.

I was dazzled by that sparkle in her eyes.

I was seized by the determination to go to the ends of the Earth and do _anything _and _everything, _just to stop Kagome's tears.

My head went blank as I faced her anger.

And now, I felt that spilt second of '_Oh, Fuck.' _Just before my face connected with an old, old friend. The ground.

Yep, Kagome was back for real. She was back for good.

You know, I wouldn't have it _any other way. _

**Well, here it is!**

**I've enjoyed writing this so much, I hope it lived up to expectations! Thanks again. Leave me your thoughts: review!**


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